Wednesday, April 2, 2014

I don’t remember exactly why, but for the longest time I’ve
wanted to try stuffing and braising a beef flank steak, and this very brociale-like
roulade was the result. And while the outside was an unsightly mess of frayed
meat fiber, the overall dish was a delicious success.

Braising a flank steak seems counterintuitive since it’s
almost always cooked briefly and served medium-rare, but so is top-sirloin, and
I’ve used that cut for beef roulade before, and it worked fine. Flank steak is
also one of the “beefiest” cuts on a cow, and has a decent amount of fat, so I
felt pretty confident going in.

The only thing I hadn’t considered was the appearance, and
that ended up being my only real complaint. Because flank steak has such large,
pronounced meat fibers, after a few hours of simmering, my roulade had a bad
case of split ends. As I mention in the video, we may try and wrap the meat
with some type of protective layer, and by protective, I mean fatty.

Other than that, it was a fairly straightforward procedure.
Feel free to stuff with anything you like (just not too much), and the same
goes for the braising liquid. No matter what you decide to simmer this in, once
you’re done, simply reduce it, and use it as a sauce. That means be careful
with the salt. I generously salted the roulade, so I didn’t need to heavily
season the braising liquid as well. Best to adjust that later.

Anyway, whether you use my specific ingredients or not, I
hope you give this technique a try soon. All you need is a flank steak, a
sharp, thin knife, and you’re ready to roll. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 trimmed beef flank steak, butterflied, and pounded flat (please note: you must cut and roll the meat in the exact way shown, so the grain is going the right way for slicing!)

I learned a neat trick from a butcher buddy of mine. When slicing (or in this case butterflying) meat before cooking, pop it in the freezer for about a half hour (a little longer for thicker cuts) it firms the meat up a bit and makes cutting easier. Ive butterflied Flank steaks both ways and its definitely easier after a "quick freeze".

I used to make this years ago, it was an old Brazilian recipe called, "Man Killer" and was made for the long treks by stage coach in Brazil. The recipe called for carrots and hard boiled eggs to be rolled with in and when it was cut it was very pretty. Just found you site and will be making some of the other skirt steak marinades and barbecue's.